Technology is rapidly reshaping industries that have long been rooted in tradition, driving a wave of innovation that is transforming everything from finance, banking, steel to manufacturing.
Keeping in mind the large scale exploitation of the common man across rural India, the Union government has come out with a novel rural banking plan to take all banking services to the doorstep of villagers.
Leading FMCG companies reported a decline in margins in the September quarter on account of higher input costs and food inflation, which ultimately slowed down the pace of urban consumption. Rising prices of commodity inputs such as palm oil, coffee and cocoa were also accentuated and some FMCG firms have hinted at a price hike. HUL, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL), Marico, ITC, and Tata Consumer Products Ltd (TCPL) have expressed concerns over squeezing urban consumption, which according to industry experts forms 65-68 per cent of FMCG total sales.
Following the lacklustre growth numbers in the second quarter (Q2FY25), economists believe the upcoming Union Budget for 2025-26 should focus on reforms that will stimulate consumption, manufacturing and spur employment. India's growth unexpectedly slowed to 5.4 per cent in the second quarter, due to low capital formation, weak consumption, besides adverse weather impact.
The wife of an army Colonel, who has accused 12 Punjab police personnel of assaulting him and his son over a parking dispute, has started a sit-in protest along with ex-servicemen outside the Patiala Deputy Commissioner's office to press for a CBI probe. The family is demanding a CBI probe and the transfer of Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police Nanak Singh, accusing him of failing to take action on their multiple requests to file an FIR. Despite Patiala Deputy Commissioner (DC) Preeti Yadav assuring them of a fair and transparent probe, the family refused to lift the 'dharna' and said it would continue until their demands were met.
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami has asserted that alliances are formed only at the time of elections and declined to categorically say if his party would align with the BJP for the 2026 Assembly polls. Palaniswami met with Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday and brought to his attention several issues faced by Tamil Nadu, including the need for funds release, the implementation of the Godavari-Cauvery river linking plan, and a probe into the "TASMAC scam." He said that while the party would decide on an alliance at the time of the election, he did not rule out a tie-up with the BJP.
His innovation to churn out low-cost sanitary napkins is a double boon to poor women of rural India - they are hygienic and help them earn their living.
India's GDP is likely to grow at 6.5 to 7 per cent in the current fiscal year amid global challenges which may impact exports, said Economic Survey 2023-24 tabled in Parliament on Monday. The growth projected for 2024-25 is lower than the economic growth rate of 8.2 per cent estimated for the previous financial year. The Reserve Bank has projected the GDP growth for the fiscal year ending March 2025 at 7.2 per cent.
High frequency indicators, like vehicles sales, air traffic, steel consumption and GST E-way bills, point towards a sequential pickup in momentum of economic activity during the second half of the fiscal 2024-25 and sustain moving forward, RBI Bulletin said on Wednesday. However, a strong dollar, driven by US economic resilience and trade policy pivots, could exacerbate capital outflows from emerging economies, push risk premiums higher, and intensify external vulnerabilities, said an article on 'State of the Economy' published in RBI's February bulletin.
The Indian government's announcement of 10,000 additional seats in medical colleges next year, part of a plan to add 75,000 seats over five years, has been welcomed by education experts and stakeholders. The move aims to address the shortage of medical professionals and reduce the outflow of Indian medical students to other countries. The budget also includes infrastructure expansion at five new IITs to accommodate 6,500 more students and an allocation of Rs 500 crore to set up a Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence for education.
In a significant policy shift aimed at boosting agri-productivity and rural prosperity, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced six new agricultural schemes while increasing the subsidised Kisan Credit Card loan limit to Rs 5 lakh from the existing Rs 3 lakh, benefiting 7.7 crore farmers, fishermen, and dairy farmers.
'Inflation is not good for industry. Nor for the economy as a whole.'
'Our target will come from rural areas as there are more outlets there.'
'Binary fission will happen -- startups will lead to more startups.'
Economic growth not only changed the food consumption pattern in rural households but has also encouraged rural India to go for more efficient energy sources like liquefied petroleum gas.
Lok Sabha constituencies that sprung a surprise in the 2024 polls.
Foxconn's business in India has grown to over $10 billion till 2024.
It will be interesting to see what shifts have been recorded in the last decade-and-a-half -- from the effects of demonetisation and Covid's second wave to the drop in fertility and increase in farm workers -- but we will only know this if and when the Census is conducted, points out Aakar Patel.
Companies like Flipkart, Amazon and Meesho as well as quick commerce ones like Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart may create hundreds of thousands of seasonal jobs for the coming festival season.
A third of FMCG sales and half of motorcycle sales come from the hinterlands
Of these 8.5 million additional people employed in September, 6.5 million were in rural India, reveals Mahesh Vyas.
Job creation, improving farm productivity, and mobilising public funds for infrastructure development were some of the issues that figured during the interaction between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and economists ahead of the 2025-26 Union Budget. The prime minister on Tuesday met eminent economists and sectoral experts at NITI Aayog to hear their views and suggestions for the upcoming Budget. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to present the Budget for 2025-26 in the Lok Sabha on February 1, 2025.
Gold seems to be losing its glitter in India due to a rise in prices. Demand in Q2CY24 was 149.7 tonnes - a 5 per cent drop compared to 158.1 tonnes in the same period last year, according to a report by the World Gold Council (WGC). Demand by value in April-June 2024 stood at Rs 93,850 crore, up by 14 per cent compared to Rs 82,530 crore in the same period last year.
India is likely to grow by 7.5 per cent in the first quarter of the current financial year, driven by rising aggregate demand and non-food spending in the rural economy, according to an article in the RBI's May Bulletin released on Tuesday. The Indian economy has demonstrated marked resilience in the face of geopolitical headwinds impacting the supply chain, said an article on the state of the economy published in the May Bulletin.
Against the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) projection of 7.1 per cent, India's first quarter (Q1) 2024-25 (FY25) gross domestic product (GDP) growth came in at 6.7 per cent. This is in line with market expectations and significantly lower than the 7.8 per cent recorded in the fourth quarter (Q4) 2023-24 (FY24) and 8.2 per cent in Q1FY24. The quarter witnessed decreased government consumption and investment spending due to the parliamentary election.
Nasscom Foundation along with Google has set up a call centre in collaboration with a not-for-profit body ISAP to help women farmers scale up their business. The project is being run on a pilot basis to initially reach out to 20,000 rural women entrepreneurs across six states -- Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana and Rajasthan, Nasscom Foundation CEO Nidhi Bhasin said at the launch of "DigiVaani Call Center". "DigiVaani will be one place where rural women entrepreneurs will be able to call and get the information around various schemes available for them, which can help them scale up their business, be it government scheme or any other information that can be of help for them.
GE India, the $2.8 billion industrial giant, plans to invest $6 billion till 2015 in medical systems, services and IT tailor-made for rural India. Also, GE, the parent company, is looking at making India the sourcing hub for aerospace parts and healthcare products and is in the process of developing a supply chain for this.
As the rural areas account for more than 40% of the country's population, they need to receive at least 41.7 per cent of the doses to make vaccine administration more equitable, reports Ishaan Gera.
Since the first Aadhaar number was issued in September 2010, more than 1.33 billion Aadhaar cards have been generated till June 2022. With the Aadhaar enrolment of adult Indians nearing 100 per cent, the main objective of the Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI), which was to give Unique Identification numbers (UID) to all residents of India, is almost achieved, said a senior government official. "Enrolment will now be much more update-based, because people keep updating their mobile numbers and addresses.
Target is to train about five lakh Indian women in next 18 months
Dhanatrayodashi is called Dhanteras and its twinkling lights set the mood of India's greatest and most popular festival -- Diwali, the festival of lights.
Homegrown fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) major Dabur India is set to record low single-digit growth in consolidated revenue in the December quarter, it said in an update on Friday. The maker of Hajmola candy and Real fruit juice said rural consumption continued to be resilient and grow faster than urban in the third quarter.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has lauded the Union Budget as a "people's budget" that fulfills the dreams of every Indian and said that it is a "force-multiplier" that will boost consumption, investment and growth. He highlighted a host of measures for different sectors, including welfare initiatives for gig workers, tax relief for the middle class, and support for the manufacturing sector.
Political sources say Modi is 'keen' on getting the NCP (SP) over to the Mahayuti to counter Eknath Shinde's 'demands' and to act as a cushion against his present allies, Nitish Kumar and N Chandrababu Naidu, 'in case their relationship became untenable'.
'The flight did not land in Gujarat because the 'Gujarat model' would then get exposed.'
'... that it once again shies away from renewing its commitment to strategic divestment,' points out A K Bhattacharya.
The unemployment rate shot up to a record 10.9 per cent in the week that ended on December 18, points out Mahesh Vyas.
Politics is not on the radar of 18 to 21-year-old Indians, reveals Rama Bijapurkar.
With its age-old fascination for education, southern states have done better than the North. Start-ups, IT hubs, and industry majors setting up shop have changed the face of the South. Nearly 79% of global offices set up by international conglomerates in India are in the South. Almost 46% of tech unicorns are from the South. The GDP per person in the South is 4.2 times higher than the North. None of these indicators can be ignored by any central government, whatever the political compulsions, notes Ramesh Menon.
Gems of wisdom from Dr Manmohan Singh, who passed into the ages on December 26, 2024.
